Moore Threads, a Chinese startup that provides graphics processing unit (GPU) solutions, announced that it has raised “billions of yuan” across two funding rounds just 100 days since its inception. It said it has achieved a valuation of US$1 billion, making its entry into the unicorn club.
The latest pre-series A round was led by Sequoia Capital China, GGV Capital, and Shenzhen Capital Group.
TikTok owner ByteDance,China Merchants Venture, Pony.ai, Riverhead Capital, Oceanpine Capital, Wenming Investment Fund, First Capital, 5Y Capital, and Shenzhen H&T Intelligent also participated in the round.
Launched in October 2020, Moore Threads aims to develop its own GPU to help build its visual computing and artificial intelligence platforms. It provides GPU-related services including research and design, manufacturing, selling, and service support.
GPUs not only help with graphics processing services for personal computers, servers, and mobile devices, but they also play a role in the era of AI. The technology is applied to autonomous driving, big data, financial transactions, intelligent analysis, and image recognition, among other sectors, said the company in a statement.
US multinational technology company Nvidia is the only company globally that focuses on developing GPU, said Gu Lan, chip expert at Shenzhen Capital Group. He also added that Nvidia took up over 80% of the GPU market share in China last year, which increased from less than half of the market share in 2008.